Morpeth Moments

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The Green family were very well known in the Hunter Valley. Walter Clement Green, vigneron, was the father of Frederick Davies Green, who was charged with the murder of Lilian Bridge, aged 16, daughter of William Bridge, employee of W. C. Green, on 14th April 1908.

References:

Trove newspapers: https://trove.nla.gov.au

Music: Lone Harvest & At Rest: by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Sound Effects: https://youtube.com/audiolibrary/

Website: Appendix H - Non-indigenous Heritage Study

majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au

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History records the tragic tale of the murder of Lilly Bridge in 1908 somewhere between her home and Norwood House. It is thought that Frederick Green (son of Walter Clement Green - winemaker), ambushed Lilly, who had rejected his romantic advances, and murdered her. Lilly was 17 years old and had worked for Mrs. Green. Her father worked for Walter Clement Green and lived in a cottage near to the homestead. Part I details the crime and Part 2 details the conviction, sentence and aftermath of Frederick Davies Green. 

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The Burke and Hare murders were a series of 16 killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures.

Writing to the Weekly Scotsman, a Leith correspondent says : — ‘In your journal some time ago, I read a powerful narrative of the Burke and Hare atrocities in the West Port of Edinburgh, the writer of which was of opinion that Helen MacDougall had died unknown, and that the accounts of her death in different localities were unworthy of belief. Well, I can vouch for the currency of one rumour, at any rate.’

Resources:

Trove Newspapers & Gazettes:- https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/

Free Settler of Felon - Jen Willetts:- https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/searchaction.php?page=5&surname=&ship=earl%20of%20liverpool%201831&firstname=

BDM – marriage

https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/result?3

https://search.findmypast.com.au/search-world-records/new-south-wales-parish-registers-christ-church-cathedral-newcastle

Court Record Search

https://www.scottishindexes.com/adentry.aspx?adid=830139

The Stentmaisters – Burke and Hare

https://falkirklocalhistorysociety.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/burke-hare-helen.pdf

West Port murders; : or an authentic account of the atrocious murders committed by Burke and his associates; containing a full account of all the extraordinary circumstances connected with them. Author Thomas Ireland

https://archive.org/details/b20443304

Music

Lone Harvest: by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Youtube sound effects

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This story is an introduction to my next episode regarding Helen McDougal, paramour of William Burke. William Burke and William Hare committed 16 Killings over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They sold the corpses to Dr. Robert Knox for his anatomy lectures. Edinburgh was the leading centre of anatomical study in the early 19th Century, in a time when the demand for cadavers led to a shortage in legal supply.

The Body Snatcher - Haunted Places: Ghost Stories | Podcast on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5tPELSnFIC9XcU169EgNVt 

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John Jones age 24, arrived in Australia on the ship ‘Mary Pleasants’ as a free man, on the 9th August 1857. This episode tells the details of the crime which ended his two year stay in the new country and ended all his ambitions to prosper and succeed as others did on the same journey.
Jim Crow was born in Clarence Town in 1837, south of Maitland, and it is believed he was a member of the Wonnarua people of the Hunter Valley. Little is known about his life prior to his crime, such as his Aboriginal name. 
Jim Crow's skull was kept in the Museum of Victoria for 120 years. Find out how he was found and what happened to him.

References:
Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au

Repatriation of ancestral remains - Museums Victoria
Book tells of 19th century body-snatching and skull collecting (theage.com.au)
The skull, the phrenologist and the solution to a 150-year-old mystery - The Body Sphere - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Music: Lone Harvest: Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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In 1860, Francis Saville Kent, nearly 4 years old, was taken from his cot and cruelly murdered. His body was found in the privy at Road Hill House, Wiltshire, England. Five years later, Constance Emilie Kent confessed to the crime and served 20 years in prison. When she was released, she emigrated to Australia. For 20 years she was the Matron at Dr. Pierce's Memorial Home in Maitland, NSW under the alias Ruth Emilie Kaye.

References:
Trove newspapers: https://trove.nla.gov.au

Music: Lone Harvest, Darkest Child, Piano Music: By Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License - http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/3.0/

Email: [email protected]

Facebook page: Morpeth Moments

Websites:
Murderpedia - Constance Kent | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
Dictionary of Sydney - Kaye, Ruth Emilie | The Dictionary of Sydney

Books:
Noeline J. Kyle: A Greater Guilt: Constance Kent and the Road Murder, Boolarong press, Salisbury, Brisbane, 2009
Barnard Taylor: Cruelly Murdered: Constance Kent and the Killing at Road Hill House, Souvenir Press, London, 1979

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In the early decades of the early 20th Century, writes seemed to be looking back nostalgically at what had been lost during colonisation, and they attempted to recreate the past in their literary works.
One such reporter in the 1920's, was the journalist 'The Man in the Mask'. He or she wrote nostalgic stories derived from factual events and real people. This episode follows the case of Richard Darlington and John Johnston. Actual case occurred in 1840 - story written in 1924.

References
Newspapers & Gazettes Home - Trove (nla.gov.au)

Music: Lone Harvest & Walking Alone - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons. By Attribution 3.0 License

1920s AUSTRALIAN CHARLESTON - Ray Tellier san francisco orchestra - yes sir that s my baby - 1925 - YouTube

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I have been doing a series about the 16 hangings that occurred at Maitland Gaol from 1843 to 1897. But there was an execution by hanging before the Goal was built and took place in the main street of Maitland in February 1838. 

References
Trove newspaper: - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/

Music: Lone Harvest & Teller of Tales - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons. By Attribution 3.0 License

Poverty and Prosperity - https://www.maitland.nsw.gov.au/document/poverty-prosperity-education-resource
Book: Exiled - The Port Arthur Convict Photographs - https://books.google.com.au/books?id=kFO-IsXQnp0C&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=william+moore+aurora+guernsey+1833&source=bl&ots=8heej-Npc9&sig=ACfU3U1qsTaURxHzs8Y2r4kwPFdT1FFRUw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip4oDJt7vyAhWNILcAHRMICc4Q6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=william%20moore%20aurora%20guernsey%201833&f=false

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On the 25 March 1925, a story appeared on page 3 of the ‘The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate’ under the title of “Hunting the Bunyip of Hexham Swamp.”

It appears that three men, Sam Millgate, Bill Wallace and Billy Parkes, back in 1879 swore they heard, during an evening’s wild duck hunt in the Hexham Swamps, what resembled the “roar of a lion” and were terrified by the appearance of a creature with “eyes like golden orbs in the night.”

References:
Trove: https://trove.nal.gov.au
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article171842350
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163226566 

Lone Harvest: By Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

email: [email protected]

Facebook group: Morpeth Moments - includes all images

The Australasian Bittern "Bunyip Bird" - NBN newreel youtube

Vicky Vo DIY – Bittern bird sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeAH30h9jxo

Bunyip  wikipedia
Bunyip - Wikipedia

Bunyip image
Bunyip | Cryptid Wiki | Fandom

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This story was brought to my attention from a listener. The article that led to my investigation began as follows:- Year1897 - "There's a fatality about the Keep family. Yes a fatality. I was  up in Maitland about 15 years ago when a Keep was poisoned. His wife and mother-in-law were arrested on suspicion, and one of them died in gaol. . . . . .Well, there was another Keep a short time back . . .instead of 'whiskey in the jar', it was poison, and one of them died. . . . .And now we have the romance of Sarah Nagle's (nee Keep's) doom". Her skeleton was found in a cave at Heathcote Gully in 1897, five years after she disappeared from her home.